As expected, Draymond Green declined his player option for the 2023-24 season and became an unrestricted free agent. Despite this, the four-time NBA champion is likely to stay with the Warriors as there is mutual interest from the parties.
However, there is no agreement between Green and Golden State yet. Recently a photo of him and LeBron James spending time in France surfaced sparking a speculation that the 32-year-old forward could go to Los Angeles. Former NBA player turned analyst Kendrick Perkins advocated for such move to happen.
NBA insider Brian Windhorst discussed the topic on ESPN. According to him, all signs are pointing to Green staying with the Dubs and the Lakers would need to make major moves in order to land him.
“First off, let me just say that Draymond’s opting out is 100 percent expected. It is not a surprise,” Windhorst said on Get Up. “We’ve known about it for weeks if not months. It is a procedural move. There was no issue with this happening.
“Absolutely, from what I am told, there is the dialogue between the Warriors and Draymond with an intention that he would remain there. Having said that, they do not have an agreement and they certainly could have come to a new agreement on an extension before he opted out. They did not. So on some level Draymond Green will be on the market.
“As Perk just said, I think Draymond would be extremely valuable to any team nearing contention because he is the exact type of player you want on a competitive team, especially Western Conference. But the problem is for a team to be in contention usually means they don’t have appreciable cap space.
“And in the case of the Lakers, they would have to pretty much dump all of their players that they got over the last year to open up that space. That is not something that Rob Pelinka, the general manager, has indicated that he wants to do.”
